bien pensant

comparative more bien pensant · superlative most bien pensant · alternative bien-pensant

1. Right-thinking; orthodox, conformist.

   He hopes Mr Abbott wins the election in part because it would, he says, annoy bien-pensant British journalists and Leftists who oppose the Australian's positions on things like abortion, gay marriage or climate change.

   2010 August 23, Bagehot, The Economist

   1 more example

   My biggest beef is the idea that increasingly grips liberal thinkers desperate for anything radical – the concept of a universal income for all. Financially, behaviourally and organisationally bonkers, this idea is gaining traction on the bien pensant left.

   2017 March 13, Will Hutton, “Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There by Rutger Bregman – review”, in The Guardian

plural bien pensants · alternative bien-pensant

1. A person who is bien pensant.
2. Someone who accepts and/or espouses a fashionable idea after it has been established and maintains it without a great amount of critical thought.

   Near-synonyms: follower, believer, conformist

   Synonyms: follower, believer, conformist